Shopping for a boat can be an exciting time for you. Just the thought of having a yacht or large recreational vessel that you can share with family and friends gets your blood racing, and you are anxious to go out and find a boat that is ideal for you. Looking at the secondary market can be advantageous to you as you are likely to find a boat that fits what you want without having to pay the very high prices found in most new boat showrooms. Before you jump in and make an offer on that boat you just saw online or in person, you want to make sure you have as much information about the vessel as possible. Performing a USCG vessel lookup can be the right move for you to take first so you can get some background information on the boat.
Good Vessel Background Information
When you perform a search like this, you will get some background information about the boat in question that can help you with your purchase decision. Vessels that have been federally documented with the United States Coast Guard (USCG) become part of a national registry that the Coast Guard maintains. When you access this database, you can get information such as the year the boat was built, the material used, tonnage information, ownership information and much more. You can then consider all the information you have to help you determine if this is a ship that you are interested in purchasing or not.
Performing a Vessel Lookup
Performing a USCG vessel lookup does require that you have specific information about the vessel in question. You must have either the documentation number of the boat or the name of the boat to perform your initial search. The documentation number will be much more useful to you because it will point you right at the specific boat you want. Using just the name of the boat can give you a list of several boats, and you will need to look closely at the information to make sure it matches the particular vessel you want to learn about.
Where to Conduct a Vessel Lookup
Several websites allow you to perform a USCG vessel lookup, including ours here at the Maritime Documentation Center. You can select the Vessel Search function listed on our website and get the information you want instantly. Our site also offers users the chance to access many documentation forms and services that can be helpful to you after you make a decision and purchase a vessel of your own. Remember to use our site for all your documentation needs once you have your ship so that you can get federal registration easily and maintain it for however long you own your boat. We look to make everything about getting information and forms for boat registration better for you so that you can spend less time worrying over forms and more time sailing and boating.